RESHAPING COMMUNICATION: COVID-19'S LINGUISTIC IMPACT ON NIGERIAN ENGLISH

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant changes in language use and expression. This study examines the impact of the pandemic on Nigerian English language, utilizing a Functionalist Approach that explores meaning beyond structure. Data were collected from an online forum, Nairaland, to identify new Nigerian English expressions related to COVID-19. The findings reveal that the pandemic has spurred the creation of new words, morphemic coinages, phrasal restructuring, semantic broadening, and acronymic coinages in Nigerian English. The study demonstrates how COVID-19 has created new language situations and scenarios, which Nigerians have responded to via their use of English to communicate about the pandemic. This study emphasizes the dynamic and functional potential of languages and how users creatively deploy language to meet their needs and reflect shifting concerns and realities